Chris Megaffin, NBCT

Christopher Megaffin’s home base is Santa Monica, CA., though he has worked internationally for more than 10 years - first in Asia and currently in Africa, where he teaches 8th grade Social Studies at the American International School in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is also the 8th Grade Team and the Middle School Social Studies Subject Leader. He is passionate about empowering students to be global citizens who make a difference in the world. Chris is also the founder of the Bow Tie Challenge, which seeks to raise awareness about the importance of education and to raise funds for Afrika Tikkun. Follow Chris on Instagram at the_traveling_educator and on Twitter at Traveling Educator @TeacherChris1

The 2016-17 school year had not been my best year of international teaching. After a difficult summer, I had returned to work stressed and this had an impact on how my year unfolded. So at 1:30 on June 10 there was a sense of relief that the school year was over but also doubt about the efficacy of my teaching and the impact that I had had on my students’ academic and socio-emotional development. In 8th grade Social Studies we had been considering the following yearlong essential question: What does it mean to be a global citizen? I had hoped…